


Figured it out, yet?

by nokurde



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Amnesia, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Father-Son Relationship, Feels, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Genius Peter Parker, How Do I Tag, Hurt Tony Stark, Iron-Dad, No Spoilers, Peter Parker Acting as Tony Stark's Parental Figure?, Peter Parker Calls Tony Stark "Dad", Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter is a Little Shit, Protective Peter Parker, Spider-son, Stark Industries, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark Has A Heart, is this enough tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:20:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24825937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nokurde/pseuds/nokurde
Summary: Could there be something worse than losing every single memory of someone you love and treasure?Yes, Peter Parker could argue. Being the person that was forgotten.Iron Man gets injured in a fight, which leaves him with a (temporary?) amnesia, erasing the last few years of his life. Now he’s left with an annoying kid for a babysitter.(It is temporary, right?)As Tony Stark struggles with his new reality, Peter tries to keep the company running, look out for his mentor without getting himself kicked out of the Tower, and not break down in the process.(Right?)
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Pepper Potts, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 76
Kudos: 929
Collections: All Your (and My) Capable Smart BAMF Peter Parker Needs, Really good Irondad and Spiderson fanfics, The Best Irondad/Spiderson Fics, The Best Peter Parker Whump Fics, The Best of the Best MCU Fics





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I have absolutely zero medical knowledge. I did some research to write this but please don’t hold it against me if you find any inaccuracies. 
> 
> Also, I don’t personally have anything against people called Presley :D 
> 
> There’s a spoiler for this fic in the end notes for anyone who worries they might be triggered. Stay safe, folks!
> 
> Enjoy!

Peter was sketching out his new idea for a suit, when he got the news. This suit, along with many, many others wouldn’t make it past the sketchbook, since this design was mostly self-indulgent and made him look cool, but was neither practical nor useful. He did that a lot, with other Avengers’ tech as well. Whenever he worked on new equipment and hit a block, the sketchbook provided great inspiration that usually helped him come up with new ideas.

It was also something to pass time during his classes. He was a tiny little bit ahead of the rest of his peers, after all.

His StarkWatch vibrated twice, indicating he had a new message and he looked around briefly to see if anyone was paying him any attention. The class seemed to be focused on the blackboard and the advanced calculus problems their teacher tried to explain, though, so he pulled up the holographic text and scanned it quickly, his eyes widening with every word.

“Oh my god. Shit,” he wasn’t even aware of saying that out loud. He also didn’t notice the whole class turning to look at him, busy throwing his stuff into the backpack at the speed of light.

“Mr. Parker, watch your language,” Mrs. Warren scolded. “And where do you think you’re going?”

“Peter?” Ned called after him, but Peter didn’t seem to hear it. “Peter!”

“I- I gotta go,” he managed to get out and bolted from the classroom before anyone was able to question him.

Mrs. Warren followed, calling after him but he wouldn’t even turn back. She came back only to tell them to stay quiet and do the next problem on their own, and then vanished again, probably to notify the principal of her student’s sudden departure. Ned and MJ exchanged surprised looks. They fired off a ton of texts, hoping Peter would respond to one of them as soon as he could. Ned had always been a mother hen, but this time even MJ couldn’t dismiss the worry. Peter usually wasn’t being involved in Avengers’ missions that would interrupt his school schedule (Mr. Stark’s rule), but the few times he was, he never acted like this. He usually faked stomach ache or whatever to get out of class, like it was no big deal that he was about to jump head first into a possibly life-threatening situation, but this, whatever this was, seemed to truly shook him.

_Hello, Peter._

_Although there is no set protocol for this kind of situation, I believe you would like to be informed that Boss has suffered a major head injury and is currently hospitalized in the Medical Bay at Stark Tower. His condition is currently unknown. The assailant has been dealt with and isn’t considered a threat._

_Hugs and kisses,_

_F.R.I.D.A.Y._

_*_

Peter called Happy on his way out of school and the head of security picked up, of course he did, but the exhausted tone of his _hello_ was enough to confirm Peter’s worries.

“No further news, then,” he sighed. “Is anyone of your team nearby? I need to catch a ride home as soon as possible. I mean, to the Tower.”

Happy was supposed to pick him up, but at this time of the day he was most likely still at SI. “Not currently, no. I’ll send someone to get you right away, but it’ll take-”

“Don’t worry about it, then. I’ll just- catch a cab or something.” Peter went out of the building and jogged up the street. “I’ll finally make use of the card Mr. Stark got me,” he added, trying to make his voice light. Judging by the silence on the other end, Happy saw right through him.

“I’ll be waiting for you in the Med Bay, then. Alright?”

“Alright,” Peter confirmed and ended the call. As he got closer to an intersection, he finally spotted a cab coming his way. He immediately flagged it down and jumped inside before it even fully stopped.

“Where to?” the driver asked, looking at him through his rear-view mirror.

“The Stark Tower, please.”

“Uhhh are you sure, kid?”

“Yes,” Peter snapped impatiently and it seemed to be enough as the driver only raised his eyebrows at him without another word, and the car finally pulled away. Whether the man meant the battle that must’ve taken place somewhere near the Tower recently, or he was just surprised a kid like him could have any business at SI, Peter wasn’t in the mood for pleasantries.

In the meantime, F.R.I.D.A.Y. sent him an update and he could feel his eyes water as relief washed over him. Apparently Mr. Stark was now stable. In their line of work, being stable was actually great news.

As soon as the car stopped outside the building, Peter took out the platinum credit card Tony gifted him some time ago that he had never even used before today, paid, and basically ran to the entrance, startling a few businessmen currently lounging in the lobby.

“Peter Parker, clearance level: ten alph-”

“Yeah, yeah, save that for field trips, Fri,” Peter interrupted as he crossed the scanner line and made way for the elevators, ignoring the businessmen’ whispers behind him. As soon as he approached one, the elevator door slid open allowing him in.

F.R.I.D.A.Y. sent the elevator to the right floor without him even asking, he murmured a quick “thanks” and got off. Happy was the first person he saw. He was pacing the hall outside of the Medical Bay and looked very worried and very, very tired.

“Happy!”

The man looked up and shot him a small smile. “Hi, Pete. I’m sorry, but we can’t go inside just yet. The surgery was a success but they still need to-”

“It’s alright, now, they’re done,” Pepper said, as she came out of the Med Bay to get them. She went to give Peter a hug in a greeting, but Peter could feel her shaking and tightened the embrace just this little bit. They separated after a long moment, and entered the Bay after Happy to see Tony Stark pale and unconscious on a hospital bed, attached to three quietly humming machines.

The head doctor was Helen Cho, who flied in from the Avengers Compound as soon as they got the news. She didn’t look pleased to see this many people in the room, but decided against mentioning it. She could apparently tell how much this man meant to all of them.

Peter approached her, when the other two went to sit by the bed, Pepper holding one of Tony’s hands in both of her own.

“How is he?” Peter asked quietly.

Dr. Cho’s eyes softened as she took in his trembling hands and terrified eyes. “He should be fine, eventually, he’s finally stable. We’re not going to wake him up for a few days, though.”

“Why?”

“He’s suffered a severe head trauma, I need to make sure everything’s working properly.” She turned to look at Tony’s unconscious form. “It’s too early to say for sure, but he should be back to full health. He just needs time. But-”

Peter frowned at her hesitation. “But?” he prompted.

“I expect a temporary retrograde amnesia due to his severe concussion. It’s very common in similar cases.”

Peter relaxed at her words. He was familiar with the term, having read multiple papers on medicine (and engineering, programming, chemistry-) in his spare time. It was indeed common, and, more importantly, not dangerous. Mr. Stark was in good hands and he would be fine.

Dr. Cho slid a chair his way before he even registered he needed it. He sat on it heavily and sighed, eyes locking on his mentor’s pale face. Everything would be fine.

* * *

It’s been a few days before Dr. Cho decided to start waking Tony up from the medically induced coma. All of his test results were promising, and the only thing left to do was to check how well his brain worked when conscious. Knowing this didn’t make waiting any easier, though.

Peter sighed, pushing the holograph away from himself and leaning back in his chair. His eyes hurt, was it morning already? He finished the weekly reviews and the feedback for the labs was ready to be sent. The adjustments to Mr. Stark’s most recent prototype were almost complete. So that only left the blueprints for the new enhanced testing room R&D lab #64.08 requested, but those weren’t due until Monday so he still has another day to finish it. Okay, so far so good.

A huge yawn fought its way onto his face and he decided it would be a good time for a quick nap, before going back to work. He could grab something to eat and drop by the Med Bay to see how Mr. Stark was doing, then catch some sleep for an hour or two.

*

When he entered the Med Bay, Dr. Cho and her team were the only ones there, apart from the sole patient. Pepper must still be asleep then, otherwise she would be sitting on the big chair in the room, working on her laptop. She usually only left her husband’s side when Peter came to relieve her of her self-imposed guarding duty. Sometimes they sat here together, quietly talking about their days or having dinner (only if Dr. Cho wasn’t around). Happy joined them as often as he could. So far, Peter managed to keep the Avengers away. He loved them and he knew they were worried, but they wouldn’t be much help and he couldn’t deal with the crazy bunch right now, and neither could Pepper.

“Good morning, Peter,” Helen said, breaking him out of his reverie. She took a long suffering sigh at the sight of him holding an apple and he just grinned sheepishly.

“Hi. Do you know when he’s gonna wake up? Can I sit with him for a while or am I gonna be in your way?”

“You can stay if you like, we already adjusted his meds,” she said. “It’s supposed to take a few hours.”

Peter nodded as he bit into his apple. He pushed a chair closer to the bed and sat down, searching his mentor’s face for any sign of him waking up, despite what he’s just been told.

“Make sure you remember the rules, Pete. He’s gonna need you to follow them, alright?”

He nodded again, but didn’t look up at her. Soon he heard her footsteps retreating and a click of a closing door, and they were left alone.

“Just wake up already, you lazy old man,” he pleaded under his breath. He didn’t remember falling asleep.

*

“Hey, kid. Find yourself another pillow, hm? HEY!”

Peter was startled awake by a loud shout near his ear and jumped back, adrenaline spiking in his veins. He looked around frantically before remembering where he was. His eyes landed on Mr. Stark’s face, and he beamed at the man who was currently eyeing him with annoyance.

“You’re awake!”

“Yes, excellent observational skills.”

Dr. Cho hurried into the room, alarmed by the raised voices. She visibly relaxed, and so did Peter when he noticed her smiling. “Look who’s finally up.”

“Uhh, Ellen? I think I know you.”

“Helen,” she shook her head fondly. “Close enough, I’ll forgive you.”

Tony frowned, finally taking in his surroundings. “I assume I got my ass kicked. What happened?”

“You got into a fight with this huge-!” Peter exclaimed.

“Zip it, kid, the adults are talking,” the man waved a hand in his face dismissively, his attention focused on the doctor. Peter felt a cold shiver run down his spine.

Dr. Cho looked uneasy.

“Well, you were in a fight, you hit your head hard and suffered a severe concussion. You had a hematoma we had to decompress.”

Tony closed his eyes and sighed. “So that is why my head feels like it’s been split open.”

Peter looked at the doctor with startled eyes.

“We only drilled a little hole into your skull, don’t be so dramatic.” Dr. Cho smiled at the man and signaled for a nurse to up his pain medication. They were quiet for a moment, letting him adjust to the situation and gather his thoughts.

“Is Pepper here? Happy?”

“I alerted Mrs. Stark you woke up, Boss. She’s on her way,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. provided. “Mr. Hogan isn’t currently at Stark Tower, however an update has been sent to him as well.”

Peter wanted to laugh at the surprise (and excitement) visible in his mentor’s eyes, and the way he mouthed “Mrs. Stark” was simply adorable. Unfortunately this also confirmed his suspicions for him. If Tony didn’t remember getting married to Pepper-

“Okay, and now, you.” The rules, Peter, remember the rules. “Who are you supposed to be?”

_Don’t agitate him. His heart is going to be under a lot of stress following the surgery. Let him get well first._

“I- um, I am-” Peter looked to Helen but she could only shrug. They weren’t that familiar with each other for her to be able to help him out. “I’m- Peter.”

He was however very familiar with Tony Stark’s patented eye rolls.

“Is he yours?”

And now it was Dr. Cho’s turn to look at Peter, who in turn seemed even more startled. “Um, no, Mr. Stark.”

“So why is there a kid in the Med Bay? Why was he sleeping on me?”

Her incredulous look got unbearable and Peter laughed awkwardly, rubbing his neck for the lack of anything to do with his hands. _Don’t agitate him._ _Just go with whatever his mind deems believable._ “I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“Obviously.” Tony seemed to take pity on him. “Are you some employee’s kid? Or-”

“Yes, that!”

“...an intern, or-? Oh okay, then.”

Peter wanted to kick himself.

“I’m- an intern as well.”

He was so relieved Mr. Stark woke up and seemed to be alright, that he couldn’t even care how much of an idiot he made himself out to be. It didn’t even matter. Soon everything will be back to normal. He was so scared, the sole thought of the man having any lasting damage was keeping Peter awake the last two nights.

“I’ll just, um, let you rest, sir,” he said, and moved to stand up.

“Tony, how are you feeling?” It was then that Pepper finally arrived at the Med Bay. She smiled briefly at Peter before hugging her husband.

“Hi, Pepps,” Tony muttered into her hair. “Come on, were you worried about me?”

Peter snickered under his breath at the glare Mr. Stark earned himself for that comment, and accidentally found himself on the end of another one.

“Right, this kid,” Tony hummed, following her eyes and misinterpreting her look. “is apparently one of the interns, and-”

“Oh, Peter?”

Pepper frowned and for a second looked like she wanted to say more, before understanding downed on her. Peter could pinpoint the exact moment she realized what her husband’s words meant and her eyes turned sad for him. She knew the rules as well.

“You know him?” The surprise is Mr. Stark’s voice was a bit too much for Peter in his current emotional state, so he just stood up and started inching towards the door.

“Of course I know him, he’s brilliant,” and it was the most Pepper could do for him right know. “He’s our best.”

That made him stumble over his own feet but he quickly covered it up, smiling at her in thanks. _We’ll talk soon,_ her eyes seemed to say, and he nodded. “I’ll be going, then. Back to, um, my intern projects. Because I’m an intern. Yes.”

Dr. Cho facepalmed.

“I’m happy to see you awake, sir. Get better soon!” and with that, he was gone.

Not really though, he just darted through the door, closed it behind him and leaned on it for support. Taking a deep, shaky breath, he covered his face with his hands to try and tune out everything for just a second. It wasn’t ideal, but it was good. Great, even. He just needed to last a few more days, the amnesia would fade, and everything would be back to normal.

* * *

Sunday evening found him in Mr. Stark’s lab again. He was done calculating the enhancements needed for the requested testing room and was currently lounging on the sofa in the corner, watching the blueprints come together on a holographic display above him.

“Peter, Mrs. Stark would like to see you,’ F.R.I.D.A.Y. informed him and Peter immediately tensed, worried. “She invites you to join her in her office.”

“Let her know I’m coming. Is Mr. Stark okay?”

“Yes, he is. Boss is sleeping right now.”

Peter sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. He has to stop being so paranoid, he knows, but it’s stronger than him. He saved his progress on the blueprints and sent them directly to SI’s admin team. Now it was their role to order the materials, pay the invoices and organize the construction.

He could give Shuri the heads up, so the vibranium would be ready for shipping when the order came through, he mused as he made way to Pepper’s office. There was no real rush, as the lab #64.08 was temporarily relocated anyway, but it was always nice to chat with the fellow genius.

He knocked twice when he arrived and F.R.I.D.A.Y. opened the door for him at Pepper’s request.

“Hi, you wanted to see me?”

Mrs. Stark looked a bit uneasy as she smiled at him, and he couldn’t help but feel the familiar nerves come back.

“Yes, Pete, come sit.” She gestured to a comfy chair opposite a coffee table by the wall, instead of the chair on the other side of her desk meant for dull businessmen. She herself relocated to the sofa to join him. “Listen, I think I’m gonna need your help. But be honest with me and feel free to decline.”

Peter nodded, swallowing a ton of questions that surfaced at her words. If he hadn’t made sure Mr. Stark was alright a few minutes earlier, he would definitely be freaking out right now.

“It’s about Tony-”

“Oh my god, I knew it. Is he alright? Is he- Please, I-”

Pepper leaned over to him to cup his face in her hands, and spoke to him in a soothing tone before he could wonder what he was even begging for. “He’s alright.” She smiled reassuringly. “Do you think you could stay at the Tower for the next week?”

Her eyes searched his face and he wasn’t sure what she was looking for, reluctance maybe? He was mostly surprised, though.

“Uh, yeah, sure?” He nodded. She let go of his face and it was only now that he noticed how apprehensive she herself looked. “I’d have to let May know, but yeah. Of course. Why?”

Pepper rubbed her eyes in a tired gesture, sneaking a look at her laptop which she left on her desk, as if it was responsible for all that was wrong in the world. “I’m considering a business trip. The LA’s branch needs my assistance, we tried a holoconference but it’s not working. I can tell it’s not working.” She looked back to him and even though she’s always been an intimidating, admirable CEO of one of the world’s top 10 biggest companies, and none of her attempts to bring them closer ever seemed to work because he was _fucking terrified_ of the sheer force that this woman was, now he just wanted to give her a hug and calm her down.

“And you don’t want to leave him alone,” he guessed and she nodded.

“I know he’ll be fine, I know there’s nothing to worry about,” she sighed, not aware that he was constantly reminding himself the same thing. “And he’s been through much worse. We all have. Still, I feel terrible even thinking about going.”

“So you want me to… babysit him?” Peter asked in an attempt to make her smile.

“No, gods no.” Pepper laughed, which he counted as a win. “He would kick you out of here first chance he got. No, I would just feel much better if I knew he could count on you when I’m not here.”

Peter thought about it for a few moments.

“I’m not sure what use I’d be to him, he doesn’t remember me.”

“Oh he will, soon.” Pepper smiled at him. “Also, he’s aware he has amnesia. He may not remember you yet, but he knows that he knows you.”

Peter still wasn’t sure how much help he could be, but he did like the idea of staying at the Tower for the entire week, it would make his work so much easier. And who knew, Mr. Stark could regain his memories anytime, perhaps Peter wouldn’t have to pretend to be an intern for long. And, most importantly, being able to keep an eye on his mentor would not only make Pepper relax a bit, but also himself.

“Go,” he said. “Go, and save the LA branch from ruin, and I’ll handle things here. We’ll be fine.”

Pepper smiled at him, and she had this look on her face, a look that he’d seen a few times on Mr. Stark’s face as well, but could never quite decipher.

“I have no doubt you will.”

*

The call with May went surprisingly well. She even offered to stay at the Tower with him, but he knew her commute to work would be awful and assured her he’d be fine. She was a bit less keen on letting him ditch school for the entire week, and only relented when he reminded her how far ahead of the school program he actually was. For him, school was mostly just for socializing. After promising he wouldn’t use this excuse any time he didn’t feel like attending his classes, she wished him good luck and they said their goodnights.

Pepper’s flight was scheduled on Monday at noon, and Peter kind of expected they would talk some more about this, like, what she was expecting of him, what he should and shouldn’t do, _anything_ , but when he woke up, F.R.I.D.A.Y. informed him she was already gone.

“Mrs. Stark has left a message for you before her departure.”

Peter tried to hold back a yawn. “What is it?”

“Hi, Pete. I decided to leave early since I couldn’t sleep anyway,” a recording of Pepper’s voice played out. “I went to see Tony before my flight, he knows I’ll be back in a week and seemed alright with it. I don’t really like the way he’s downplaying his injuries, but I have to admit it was a bit comforting to see him act like himself.” Peter smiled at her chuckle. “If you need me, feel free to contact me at any time, and I mean it. Happy is informed of the situation as well, you can also reach out to him. I’ll see you on Sunday, good luck!”

“I feel like I’m gonna need it,” Peter murmured into his pillow.

Taking full advantage of being allowed to skip school, he only dragged himself out of bed when he couldn’t ignore his hunger anymore. The lights in the kitchen turned on automatically, and he asked F.R.I.D.A.Y. to play some music for him as he made his breakfast. Otherwise, it was just too quiet, with Pepper away and Mr. Stark still having temporary residence a few floors down.

He made himself a sandwich, and after brief consideration he made another, then grabbed a plate for them both and turned to the elevator.

“Take me to the Medical Bay, please, Fri,” he asked F.R.I.D.A.Y. and the elevator started moving down. “How is he today?”

“Boss is doing good, Peter. His vitals are getting stronger, but the medication he’s on makes him drowsy,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. provided and Peter hummed.

“Does that mean he’s asleep again?”

“Indeed.”

Peter entered the Med Bay and nodded to a nurse in greeting. She smiled at him and put a finger to her lips, indicating he should be quiet, but didn’t make any move to stop him from entering the room Mr. Stark occupied.

“Here,” he whispered, putting down the plate with the second sandwich on a small table next to the bed. “You’re gonna need this, healing takes a lot of energy.”

He pulled a chair closer and sat down to eat his own sandwich. It was comforting to see Mr. Stark’s face had regained some of its color. He looked peaceful, a feat undeniably achieved thanks to the drugs that were now coursing through his veins, because there was no way he would just decide to chill in bed for so long.

After he was done with his breakfast, Peter took out his phone and texted Ned some updates. Both him and MJ had been worried, and after freaking them out when he first got the news about Tony, he promised to check in regularly.

He pocketed the phone eventually and stood up, realizing he had been stalling. Even in the current situation, his mentor’s presence still soothed him, but enough was enough. He had things to do.

*

“Can you pull up my notes, Fri?” Peter asked absentmindedly from where he was hunched over his workstation. A bright blue list appeared to his right and he glanced at it quickly. “Got it, thanks! Oh and deliver this review to, um, Abigail Fleece? Of lab #32.03.”

Next on his list was a malfunctioning Avenger tech that one of the higher labs director sent in, apparently the team couldn’t figure out what the problem was. That wasn’t common, since Stark inventions usually didn’t require fixing unless they were severely damaged in battle, but this one actually had been. The tech in question was a tracker that wasn’t tracking. Huh, perhaps making a new one would actually be a faster route?

Peter leaned back in his chair, calculating in his mind. Hm, not really a faster route, but it would be worth the time if he coded in the same upgrade regarding tracking system Karen got recently. It was pretty neat. Now, what would be the easiest way to do that? Surely Mr. Stark has the code saved somewhere, it would be annoying trying to recreate it on his own.

“Fri, can you show me a log of Karen’s recent code updates? Let’s say, from like a month ago?”

“I have found two code updates in set time period. Here you go, Peter.”

Another hologram appeared on his right and he waved his hand to position it in front of him. Great, there it was! Satisfied with his plan, he dismissed the hologram after copying the code, and rolled to another side of the lab in his chair to start working on the physical body of the tracker. He held the broken one in his hand and grimaced at it. It was tiny. He still lacked the precision Mr. Stark had, but hopefully it would pass for a mediocre tracker. Oh who cares, the Avengers should be glad they would get any replacement at all. If they weren’t happy with it, they could try not destroying the tech Tony made for them next time.

Peter took a deep breath.

It was only his insecurity talking. As long as he managed to make it work, it’d be fine. Even if it was ugly.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

The question startled him so bad he let go of the soldering iron he was using and it fell to the floor with a loud _clang!_ ,before he quickly made to grab it.

“Mr. Stark! What are _you_ doing here? Shouldn’t you be resting?” Peter’s heart hammered in his chest, and he couldn’t tell if he was more happy or worried to see him back on his own feet. He half expected Mr. Stark just sneaked past Dr. Cho, but the man didn’t offer any remark on that.

“I appreciate your concern, Presley, but don’t worry about that,” he said instead and walked further into the lab, towards where Peter was working.

“First it was Pedro, now it’s Presley. Give me a break,” Peter muttered under his breath. He accepted being called Pedro, but did he really look like a Presley? He sure as hell hoped _that_ didn’t catch on. “Is there something you need, then?” he asked, louder.

Mr. Stark raised his eyebrows at him. “Yeah, kid. For you to get out of my lab.”

“Oh.”

Right, he was just an intern in his eyes right now. He shouldn’t have been caught in Tony Stark’s private lab, should he. He would usually just spiral into a messy explanation, but the somewhat distant look on the man’s face stopped him. Was he still drugged? It seemed like it, but also like it was slowly wearing off.

“Go on, kid, take your- whatever this is, and go back to the intern labs.”

Peter actually felt kind of offended on behalf of his tracker, but it was clear Mr. Stark didn’t care for his company right now so he decided to hold back on their usual banter. He gathered all the parts he would need to complete the tracker somewhere else, while Tony made himself comfortable in the chair Peter had been occupying until recently, even though there was another one by the windows.

“Actually, you know what,” Mr. Stark suddenly piped up, filling Peter’s mind with hope. “Before you go, can you get me a coffee?”

“What?” Peter gaped at him.

“A coffee, Presley.” Seeing absolutely zero reaction, Mr. Stark rolled his eyes. “As you already know, I’m missing some memories, but Pep filled me in this morning. Since you’re apparently my personal intern, get me a coffee, will you?”

Okay, that explains why he wasn’t being drilled about even having access to the lab. Tony Stark believed he needed it to be able to bring him coffee. It felt a bit ironic, how he actually skipped being an intern in the first place, and only became one after working at Stark Industries for a few years.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think you should be drinking coffee right now,” he said. “And my name’s Peter, sir.”

Mr. Stark gave him a completely unimpressed look.

“Alright, Peter. Was I asking for your thoughts?”

“Fine, geez,” Peter rolled his eyes, ignoring the slight surprise at the man’s face. He probably wasn’t used to sassy teenagers in this state of mind. _Don’t agitate him,_ flashed suddenly through his thoughts, and he made his way to the kitchen without another word.

“Here’s your coffee, sir.” Peter put the cup on Mr. Stark’s desk a few minutes later and quickly picked up all the tracker’s parts again. He was already backing out towards the door when the man nodded his thanks, looking up briefly from some project he was curiously examining. When he finally took a sip, Peter was already one floor down, in his own lab.

“The fuck is this? Decaf? No,” Tony frowned at the cup as if it offended him and carefully took another sip. “ _Grain coffee?_ _What am I, a toddler?!_ ”

Peter smiled.

Slight agitation never killed anybody.

*

Peter managed to get some of his own personal work done, a very mediocre looking tracker now keeping him company, when F.R.I.D.A.Y. spoke up again.

“Peter, you have an incoming call from Doctor Helen Cho, would you like to answer it now?”

He nodded absentmindedly, still fiddling with his web shooters. “Um, sure.”

“Peter?” the doctor’s voice sound through F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s speakers.

“Yes, hi,” Peter responded. He hoped she couldn’t hear how nervous her call made him. “Is Mr. Stark alright?”

Dr. Cho sighed. “I need your help. That man has no regard for his health.”

Peter immediately straightened up, the web shooters abandoned.

“What happened? Is he okay?”

“He is for now, but he won’t be if he stays in that lab any longer,” her tone suggested how ridiculous she thought this situation was. “I only allowed him to take a light stroll through the Med floor so he would finally stop pestering me, and now he’s been dodging all of my calls for hours and I can’t access his labs to drag him back here.”

The corner of Peter’s mouth curled up slightly. “That’s actually good news, if you ask me. Sounds like his old self.”

“Peter, he needs rest,” Dr. Cho scolded. “His painkillers are going to wear off soon, he’s got a hole in his skull. I called Pepper, and she said you could handle it.”

She was right, of course, he shouldn’t be making jokes. He knew Tony wouldn’t just go to bed like a normal person, he’d probably just try making himself an endless supply of coffee and tinker on stuff in his lab all night. If the pain came back unexpectedly, would he be able to make it back to the Med Bay on his own?

“I’m not sure he’ll listen to an _intern_ ,” Peter had to say. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you. Let me know how it goes.”

The call disconnected. Peter didn’t move for a while, gathering his courage and trying to think of a plan. What on Earth could he say that would make Mr. Stark listen to him? He lost all kinds of leverage the moment Tony woke up without recognizing him.

He walked to the upper floor, choosing stairs to give himself some more time to think, but it was no use. He’d just have to wing it.

“Fri, could you let him know I’m coming to see him?” he asked the AI. “I don’t want to startle him.”

“Of course.”

“Thanks,” he muttered and braced himself. “Okay, let’s do this. Um, Fri? Why won’t the door budge?”

“Boss has just locked it.”

“What do you mean he’s _locked it?!_ ”

Peter ran his hands through his hair and groaned. F.R.I.D.A.Y. wisely chose to remain quiet. Was this how Pepper always felt, trying to get Mr. Stark to do stuff? He should probably be offended right now, he hadn’t even got the chance to annoy the man during their brief encounter earlier. Right? Peter was a wonderful person. What’s up with this locking him out shit.

“Override, please,” he sighed, trying not to pout.

“Command overridden,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. informed him and the door slid open, allowing him entrance.

Now it was Mr. Stark’s turn to groan and Peter shot him a mock glare.

“What is it now? Have you come back to apologize for what you’ve done to my coffee?”

Peter wasn’t sure if he meant the cup of grain coffee he made, or the fate that met the rest of his mentor’s coffee supply. He wasn’t going to take any chances, caffeine didn’t go well with drugs. The easiest way was to just throw it all out.

“No, I just wanted to ask what you’re working on,” Peter smiled innocently and fought with himself not to move a muscle under Mr. Stark’s suspicious look. “So! What is this? Can I help? Come on, gimme.”

He practically jumped into the other chair and rolled towards Tony’s workstation, taking whatever the hell _this_ was directly from the man’s hand. Mr. Stark allowed it only due to surprise, he could tell.

“Okay, so what does this do?” Peter took a closer look to examine it. Could this be a repulsor? “And what do you want this to do? Is it broken? Or are we just upgrading it?”

“Dear lord, fine,” Mr. Stark huffed, grabbing the repulsor back. “I’m going, you win. I don’t want to see you here tomorrow.”

Peter grinned at him.

“Let me walk you-”

“NO.”

It was a bittersweet win, Peter thought, as he watched his mentor exit the lab.


	2. Chapter 2

“He appreciates that, you know.”

Peter turned his head to look at one of the nurses who’s just entered the room. Her name was Lydia and she wasn’t much older than him. They didn’t interact all that much, but Peter was definitely accident prone enough to warrant at least a basic relationship with all the medical personnel.

“He doesn’t know they are from you, though. Wouldn’t you like to wait until he wakes up?”

Peter tried to smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. She probably could tell, judging by a little sigh she let out.

“It’s fine. I just want to make sure he eats anything.” He shrugged. “I wasn’t surprised to hear he ditched the IV the first chance he got.”

Lydia mirrored his shrug. “He’s a very… interesting patient.”

“Oh, I bet” Peter actually chuckled. They quietly left the room and let the door close behind them with a barely audible click. “Thank you for taking care of him. I know it’s not easy.”

She nodded, amused. “It really isn’t, but it’s only a good sign. He feels better, so he wants out.” Her smile turned genuine when she locked her eyes with his. “No need to thank me, or either of us, though.”

“I know, you’re only doing your job and all, but-”

“No, I mean it. Oh, he’s making us nuts right now, believe me, but we’ll gladly suffer though it,” she grinned. “We all appreciate the person he is, both as an employer, and a human being. Did you know- obviously you don’t, it’s not exactly common knowledge, but I got a surprise bonus to my salary when I learned my little sister was sick two years ago. The bonus covered all the expenses needed to get her back on her feet.”

Peter found himself smiling before he even realized it.

“So don’t thank me. Just pray for my sanity,” she laughed and he joined in, forcing the semi-permanent sadness and worry into a faraway corner of his mind.

After making his breakfast delivery, Peter returned to the labs. He tried to get all the official SI work done the previous day, but apparently the night shift managed to ruin his efforts. He flopped into a rolly chair, pulled up a few holographs and made a mental list of priorities.

“That’s not too bad,” he muttered to himself, eyeing a holographic display of a prototype lab #72.16 requested to review. If he was lucky, he’d be done with this in a few hours. “Who did this kind of setting before? #72.04?” he mused. “Fri? Can you run a demo?”

“Sure thing, Peter. Estimated time of rendering: fifteen seconds.”

Once the render was complete, Peter leaned back to watch the prototype come to life. “Apply the blueprints to the visual, please, and pull up the code file.”

Something didn’t seem right, the holographic drone in front of him looked good at first glance, but for some reason it kept loosing height. If there wasn’t a bug in the code, it was very likely a miscalculation of the materials used to build the drone’s body. It was the new firefighter drone, the one that was supposed to help assess critical situations and locate people.

“Obviously it can’t melt from the heat,” Peter continued to look through the calculations. “But it’s no use if it just plummets to the ground. Is it too heavy?”

He groaned in frustration. Mr. Stark would know this. He would take just one look at the blueprints, or the code, and he’d know.

“Hey, kid. Out.”

Peter almost got whiplash from how fast he turned his head towards the door.

“Hi, Mr. Stark! What are we gonna-”

“Out.”

Right.

*

Peter relocated to his own lab, after being kicked out of Tony’s. Again. It was nothing, it was fine.

“Fri, please set up the #72.16 prototype again,” he sighed, and got back to work.

It took him two hours, twenty minutes, and hundreds of reruns to locate the bug. He’d been on the verge of a nervous breakdown when he finally noticed it, and he quickly dictated the review to F.R.I.D.A.Y. who would pass on his message to the lab director.

He missed working with Mr. Stark.

Oh, right! He completely forgot about his idea from the previous evening. He’d rather avoid annoying him any further, Dr. Cho could do it instead. At least he still respected her word.

“Fri, authorize Dr. Helen Cho to have access to the Tower’s private area, please,” he said into the ceiling. “Set a condition for her access.”

“What condition would you like me to set?”

“Attach her pass to Mr. Stark’s, until further notice.”

F.R.I.D.A.Y. hummed in agreement. “Dr. Cho is now temporarily able to access any area Boss is present at. Would you like me to notify Dr. Cho of her clearance change?”

“Yes, please. Thanks, Fri.”

“My pleasure.”

Peter smiled to himself. At least F.R.I.D.A.Y. was still nice to him.

Deciding to take a quick break, he went to get something to eat before coming back to the lab to lounge on the sofa and text with his friends for a bit. He needed his daily dose of memes to keep his sanity. He also sent an update to Pepper, even though he was sure she was kept in the loop by the medical personnel. She sent him back a heart emoji, though, and a promise to call in the evening.

Suddenly the door slid open, surprising him into dropping his phone onto his lap.

“Seriously?” Tony frowned, walking through. “Didn’t I tell you to get out of my lab?”

Peter blinked at him with confusion.

“What do you mean? I stayed out of your lab as you, very kindly, requested. Sir.” He shrugged. “I’m in my lab.”

Mr. Stark pursed his lips. “As far as I can tell, buddy, all of those labs are _mine_.”

Peter just stared at him.

“What the-” Mr. Stark took a look around. “Where are all of my- What happened? Did you accidentally drop a bomb in here?”

Peter had to laugh. “Uh, yeah, actually. It’s a funny story-”

“I’m sure it is. Another time, mkay?” Tony took a few steps into the lab, and Peter wasn’t sure if he was looking for something or simply taking in the changes. He probably didn’t remember making them. They redesigned the lab together, when Peter was first offered his own space at the Tower. “Where have you put my- what is _this_?”

His eyes caught a prototype Peter had been working on for Starlord. It was, simply put, a space gun.

“A space gun. ”

He smiled awkwardly when Mr. Stark looked at him like he was crazy. No Guardians, then? “It shoots plasma, you’ll love it. Here, let me show you.”

And love it, he did. It wasn’t until Dr. Cho came by the lab to drag Mr. Stark back to the Med Bay, that Peter realized they’d been playing around with the quad blasters prototype for at least an hour. It was actually ready for production, they only waited for a delivery of the specific materials Quill had to get on some planet with an unpronounceable name, but Mr. Stark's insight inspired him to recalculate the bullets’ composition. They worked on it together and it was the happiest Peter felt in days.

He’d have to carry out a new set of tests, but if he got it right, he’d be able to increase the damage by 22% without compromising the gun’s accuracy nor stability. Perhaps he could invite Mr. Stark to conduct the tests with him. Even if he still acted all awkward around Peter, he seemed interested enough. Perhaps he was finally past the _why is this child allowed in my presence_ stage.

* * *

Next morning, Peter dropped off Mr. Stark’s breakfast, getting a fond eye roll from Dr. Cho who was currently going over his blood results. “You do know we have catering for patients here, right?”

“Yeah, but do any of these guys know how he likes his sandwiches?” Peter shot right back with a grin. “Didn’t think so.”

She only shook her head at him and went back to her holopad. “And, before you ask, he’s okay.”

Peter laughed awkwardly. Was he that obvious?

“I could perhaps think about allowing him to return to the penthouse.”

“Woah, really? It seems soon.”

She nodded, sending him a brief smile before looking back to the holopad.

“It is, but he’ll be more comfortable there, and hopefully that will make him more… agreeable, to increasing the time he spends resting.” Peter could swear he saw a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Of course, I’m still gonna drug him, too.”

He barked out a surprise laugh. He couldn’t really blame her. Mr. Stark wasn’t easy to take care of.

“So when is that gonna happen?”

“I still want to monitor him today, but if there’s no change for the worse, I was thinking tomorrow. After the morning checks.”

Peter nodded, happy to hear to that. It would probably add to his own responsibilities, because without the Med Bay constantly on the lookout for any bad signs, he would automatically assume the role himself, but he knew it would at least make Mr. Stark relax a bit. The man never said a word (at least not to him), but he surely must hate his daily commute from the Bay to his lab, having to greet people he ran into in the halls. People who so obviously knew him, and he, most often than not, had no idea who they were. Peter knew they didn’t mind, just like he didn’t himself (of course he did, that was a lie) (but he understood) (and it was fine), but it would put Mr. Stark on edge. He hated not having the upper hand, hated handing over the control of the situation.

Peter accidentally walked in on him trying to memorize a list of hundreds of names, complete with face pictures, which F.R.I.D.A.Y. stole from the HR division.

(It wasn’t fine)

“Peter, the Foal has entered the building,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. announced and Peter frowned. It was still so early.

“Alright, sort that out for me, please. Have someone from Admin get him.” He rubbed his eyes. “Speaking of, am I still on for that intern meeting at 39th floor?”

“Yes, Peter.”

“They didn’t reschedule?”

“No, Peter.”

Dr. Cho gave him a look.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Peter.”

“Can _I_ reschedule?”

“Get out of here,” Dr. Cho laughed at him.

He sighed, betrayed, and made his way out of the Med Bay. F.R.I.D.A.Y. took him to the 39th floor and he entered the conference room with ten minutes to spare. He played with his phone for a bit, waiting for the interns to start filling up the room. He chuckled at a selfie Ned sent him, and texted Natasha who kept bugging him about coming to see Mr. Stark. It was enough that Dr. Strange was coming to the Tower later today. Peter only allowed it because a) he was a doctor so he knew not to do anything stupid, and b) he just needed to use the vast library SI had to offer and wouldn’t bother Mr. Stark.

“Hi, Peter,” the head intern of the lab he was meeting called out. “Sorry for the short notice, but we want you to see this.”

All of his reluctance vanished as soon as he looked up to see her excited face. She quickly ushered the rest of her team in, a bot rolling in after them. It was loaded with some tech two people immediately started to reassemble, their hands shaking with anticipation.

Peter looked back to the girl in charge and couldn’t help but mirror her grin.

“I think we’ve made it.”

*

“Hey, Mr. Stark? I wanna show you something!” Peter called out, entering his mentor’s (unlocked) lab. “Jane and her team are incredible. I’d love for them to work here after they graduate.”

Mr. Stark gave him a flat look, pulling himself away from the same repulsor he was working on the previous day. Which admittedly wasn’t the reaction Peter was hoping for, but at least he was acknowledged.

“Shouldn’t you focus on yourself, kid?” Tony snorted. “Keep this up and you sure as hell won’t work here when _you_ graduate.”

“Oh, ha ha, funny,” Peter pouted, before he realized Tony could actually have been serious.

“How old are you, anyway?” Mr. Stark asked, returning to his work. “Because you look twelve. Why are you never at school?”

Peter glared at him in lieu of an answer.

“And why are you wearing a carpet?”

“Huh? What carp-” Peter frowned and looked downed at himself, noticing the red fabric around his shoulders for the first time. “Levi! I told you to stop sneaking up on me like that!” he scolded, but it was hard not to smile. Especially since he could see Mr. Stark’s dumbfounded expression in the corner of his eye when the Cloak wrapped itself around him in a greeting. “Quit it, I can’t walk if you turn me into a human burrito.”

Laughing, Peter managed to free his hands and put a miniature control panel on the desk. “Check this out when you’ve got a moment. I honestly believe it could be the future of biomedical engineering!” He then turned to leave the lab, catching himself at the door. “Oh, and how are you feeling today?”

The exasperated sigh told him everything he needed to know.

“That’s great, Mr. Stark! Contact me via Fri if you need me, alright? I’ll be taking the evening off today, but if there’s anything you need, anything at all, like, you know, if you want to, like, work together or-”

“I think I get it, kid,” Tony cut him off. “It’s fine, I don’t need your help. Take all the time off you like.”

Peter could feel the Cloak wrap itself around him a little tighter to offer him some comfort, and he forced himself to put on a broad smile in thanks before letting in drop completely once he was out of the lab.

“Don’t worry, Levi. It’s only temporary,” he said, trying to reassure the Cloak (yes, the Cloak, shut up). “You’re a bit early, but it’s fine. I’m actually ahead of schedule with my work, so how about some chess? You wouldn’t believe the day I’ve had.”

They ventured into the penthouse and Peter grabbed the chess board from his quarters. He made himself some snacks, while the Cloak lounged on the sofa. They didn’t hear from Dr. Strange, so Peter assumed he didn’t need assistance moving around the Tower.

After a second game, he got a call from Pepper and assured her Mr. Stark was doing great, even if the man still had no recollection of him. Later, after some hesitation, he sent her a selfie he took with Levi and she responded with a selfie of her own, and he could see an entire room of weirded out businessmen behind her.

“Ah, young Peter, hello.”

Peter looked up from the chess board and grinned at Dr. Strange, who just came into the common area.

“Hi! Have you found what you’ve been looking for?”

“Yes, actually. The archives were very helpful,” the man said. Peter gestured to the sofa and he took the invitation to sit. “I hope Levi wasn’t disturbing you too much.”

“Not at all!” Peter smiled at the sentient piece of clothing. “I made sure to finish all the important work by the time you were supposed to be here, so it was no problem. He actually cheered me up.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” Dr. Strange gave him a somewhat concerned look. “How is he?”

“Good,” Peter shrugged. He’d asked F.R.I.D.A.Y. to send updates on any major changes in Mr. Stark’s condition to everyone the man considered a friend (mostly to convince the Avengers he wasn’t keeping any bad news from them), so they all knew he was awake now and getting better, but probably wouldn’t recognize half of them.

Dr. Strange’s eyes softened, quite an unusual sight. “And how are you?”

“Also good?” Peter grimaced and looked down at his feet. “I’m just a bit tired.”

“It’s curious how you pronounce “sad,” young man.”

Peter couldn’t help but snort. The Cloak wrapped its corner around his forearm in support.

He had the weirdest friends.

“It’s okay to admit it. No one’s gonna think any less of you,” Dr. Strange promised. “He’s gonna remember you soon.”

Peter’s head shot up, his eyes hopeful. “Really? Did you like, have a vision or something?”

“Err-”

Dr. Strange was saved from answering by the door sliding open. Tony walked in, heading to the kitchen and stopping in his tracks when he noticed them. He was wearing a t-shirt with a big motor oil stain on it, but it didn’t seem to bother him. There was a screwdriver in his hand, and the bandage around his head seemed to be dirty as well- was this soot? Dr. Cho wouldn’t be happy about it.

“Why is there a wizard in my living room?”

Peter felt the corners of his mouth quirk up. They stood up from the sofa and went over to where he stood, ignoring his confused frown.

“This is Dr. Strange,” Peter said, as the man extended his hand to go along with the introduction.

Mr. Stark snorted, but shook the offered hand. “Are we using made up names, now? I’m Iron Man, then.”

Peter felt his cheeks grow hot when Dr. Strange shot him an amused look.

“We’ve met, haven’t we?” Tony asked, looking him up and down. Apparently wizards were worth triggering some of his memory. Annoying wards weren’t. “I don’t think I can help you today, though. As you’re probably aware, I’m not exactly up to date. And you, don’t you honestly have anything better to do than lurk around my house?”

Peter fake-laughed at the exasperated joke (it was a joke, right?) and excused himself to the kitchen, the Cloak quickly joining him. He felt Dr. Strange’s eyes following him, before he rounded the corner and vanished from view.

“Sorry, the kid’s a bit weird,” Tony said in explanation. “He’s uh, he’s a son of someone who works here.”

Dr. Strange looked pointedly at the oil stain on his t-shirt and the screwdriver in his hand. “Oh, is he now?”

“Pep says he’s my intern, too, so he keeps showing up here. He wasn’t bothering you too much, was he?”

“Drop the asshole act, Stark,” Dr. Strange narrowed his eyes at the man. “I can see through it, but the kid can’t.”

Apparently finished with the conversation, he started opening a portal. Any indignant protests died on Tony’s lips when he saw the magic at work, his mind already working to figure out the mechanism behind it. Dr. Strange stepped through the sparkling ring, and Cloak flew in after him from the kitchen, apparently being able to sense the man was leaving. Peter didn’t come with him.

When the wizard and his loyal piece of clothing left and the portal closed, Tony stood there for a few more seconds, half annoyed, half reluctant. With a sigh, he finally made his way into the kitchen, where Peter’s just finished making two sandwiches, his eyes red-rimmed.

Tony found himself at the other end of the most cheerful, most fake smile he had ever seen, as Peter practically ran past him, one sandwich in hand.

“See you, Mr. Stark! Please don’t stay up here too late, you’re making Dr. Cho worry,” the kid had the audacity to call on his way out of the room. “I’ll try to stay out of your way tomorrow, so please just focus on getting better, alright?”

And he was gone.

Tony watched the door slid shut behind him before he could even react, and turned to look at the sandwich he left behind.

Huh.

* * *

“What’s gotten into you today?”

Peter just barely managed to hold back a wince. Today marked the first day in his career at SI that he wanted to be literally anywhere else than here. He could already tell it would be an awful day, he barely got any sleep last night, and it was bound to make him even more miserable than he already was.

He was currently making his routine rounds on the intern floors. It was going smoothly for once, and he wasn’t being held back anywhere. He decided to kill two birds with one stone, and scheduled the upper labs rounds for the same day. The later he returned to the penthouse, the better.

A trainee was shadowing him, because he offered to show him the ropes a few months earlier when Pepper first suggested it over dinner. It would be fun, he imagined, to teach a new guy the basics of how things worked here at SI, before handing him off to whichever lab he was supposed to go to.

Tell you what, it wasn’t fun.

“Just had a tough week,” Peter mumbled, hoping the subject would be dropped.

“Yeah, I mean, I can imagine, what with Mr. Stark and all-”

This time Peter couldn’t hold back the wince. He scolded himself inwardly for being so emotional, but still, he couldn’t help it. His worry mixed with the pressure he was under, and exhaustion, add to that the mean comments Mr. Stark kept making, and the result was not pretty.

Still, it wasn’t a reason for him to ruin the SI experience for the trainee. He’d just have to suck it and try to enjoy himself.

“I have to say, I expected you’d be showing off more.”

Peter found a genuine, if small, smile make it onto his face.

“We’re not done, yet.”

*

He ended up having more fun than he expected, but the semi-good mood was temporary. After he deposited his shadow at one of the labs, he went on with his rounds. Some people who knew him greeted him cheerfully, some others asked him a few quick questions or used his help. Each time he plastered on a smile, but it didn’t really reach his eyes.

It was exhausting in a sense he hadn’t ever experienced yet. He’d never needed to keep appearances, before. Now, he figured if people noticed he was down, they’d assume something was wrong with Mr. Stark, and he didn’t want that. He didn’t want their morale to drop, obviously, but he also tried to look out for the man. Tony would hate people worrying about him, it would make him feel vulnerable.

It felt lonely, but he knew it would be appreciated if- when Tony finally got his memories back.

On his way back, he decided to stop by the Med Bay to see if Dr. Cho was around. She was offered an apartment in the hotel wing, and since Mr. Stark wasn’t staying at the Bay anymore, she could be taking a well deserved break right now. If that was the case, he wouldn’t want to disturb her.

“Peter? What are you doing here?” Dr. Cho asked when he peeked into her office.

He pursed his lips, giving up on the act. She witnessed enough of their interactions the past few days to guess what was eating at him.

“Just wanted to hear your thoughts, I suppose.”

“Come on, then. You can walk me to my rooms, I was just about to leave.”

He nodded and gave her a moment to gather her things. She then asked F.R.I.D.A.Y. to lock the office, and they were off.

“He’s doing great,” she said as they were walking to the elevator. “All of his results are very promising.”

“So… does that mean, everything is healing well?”

She nodded confidently. “Yes. We even ran some IQ tests, out of curiosity, and he’s not even one point down. He’ll be back to normal, soon.”

Good. Peter couldn’t wait.

“We made an arrangement, and I hope to all that is holy that he will respect it,” she told him when F.R.I.D.A.Y. let them out at the hotel floor. “I want him at the Bay every morning, just to make sure he’s not deteriorating, and to redress his bandages, but I’m willing to cancel the afternoon and evening check outs.”

Peter nodded. “Sounds reasonable. He hates those with a burning passion.”

“That he does,” she laughed. “In short, I’m pleased with his progress and at this point I’m positive he’ll be fine. Alright, this is me.”

They stopped in front of one of the doors.

“Do you-” he bit his lip when she glanced at him over her shoulder from where she was fiddling with her keycard. “How long- When do you think he’ll get his memories back?”

He didn’t like the look she gave him.

“It’s really hard to tell-”

“Is there-” he swallowed. “Is there a chance he might- How big is the possibility of him never getting them back?”

Hey eyes softened.

“Peter, the human brain is a very complex organ,” She put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it lightly. “I myself am amazed how quickly he seems to be back on his feet, his prognosis is very good.”

“How big?”

He really didn’t like that look.

“Not overly big,” she said, some hesitation in her voice. “But it’s not completely off the table.”

*

Peter was holed up in his lab the entire afternoon. He tried taking a nap to give his frayed nerves a chance to recover, but sleep just wouldn’t come. He entertained the idea of having Ned over, but the last thing Mr. Stark needed right now was more visitors, so in the end he tried to find solace in his work. Why not stock on the web fluid? You could never go wrong with web fluid.

“What’cha up to, bud?”

He jumped at the sound of the voice, spilling the contents of the beaker all over his desk. “Shit. Um, hi, Mr. Stark.”

Tony ignored him cursing, but it only hurt him more. His Tony would throw a fit. His Tony would care.

 _His_ Tony, what a joke.

Or was _he_ the joke?

“You alright there?” Mr. Stark asked.

Peter grinned in the general direction the voice was coming from. “Yep! What’s up, Mr. Stark? I’m not busy or anything.” He cringed when he realized how needy that made him sound. He’d been already told off for this. “I mean, if you need your lab cleaned? Or, uh...”

Mr. Stark looked at him for a long moment, and he couldn’t help but fidget. He wasn’t able to meet his eyes, either. All he wanted was to hug the man and cry into his shoulder, but, like, that was way out of question.

“I was thinking about that space gun.”

“The space gun?”

“How about we test it out?” Mr. Stark suggested, grabbing a chair and rolling it closer to Peter’s workspace.

“Uhh, yeah, if you feel like it,” Peter gave him a puzzled look. “I’m not done recalculating the bullets’ composition, though.”

Mr. Stark seemed surprised. “You’re not? What were you doing for the past two days?"

“Right. I’ll just,” Peter looked around, trying to locate the gun. He felt hot under his mentor’s judgmental gaze. Had he just blown this? The first time Mr. Stark comes to see him out of his own free will, and Peter just blew this. “I’ll just do it now, real quick.”

He could feel his hands shake when he reached for the gun. He remembered loading it with the prototype bullet, perhaps he would be able to upgrade it on the spot. He quickly went to disarm the gun, perfectly aware that his Parker Luck would make him accidentally shoot himself otherwise, and offered the solidified plasma bullet to Mr. Stark for inspection.

They got to work, but Peter couldn’t focus. Hid hands trembled and he couldn’t get them to stop. He felt super aware of his surroundings, of himself, of Mr. Stark’s every movement.

“What’s wrong with you today? I couldn’t get you to be quiet the last few days.”

“Just having a bad day, is all.”

Mr. Stark ran a hand across his face and Peter heard him mumble, “I didn’t sign up for this.”

It would be funny to see him so out of his depth, if it wasn’t also heartbreaking.

Peter put the bullet in the mixer and entered the newly recalculated composition code. They watched the bullet break down and then realign itself right back, and it was then that Peter noticed he didn’t close the lid properly. He quickly made to shut it but by then the bullet was infused with enough energy to simply break free and almost obliterate him on its way to the ceiling. Thank god for the enhanced construction of the Tower, or his lab would've just gained a sunroof.

“Seriously, kid, are you gonna focus or what?” Mr. Stark exclaimed, pulling him out of the bullet’s way in the last second. “What’s gotten into you? I got the impression you were at least somewhat competent.”

In all honesty, Peter would’ve preferred for the bullet to hit him.

“Sorry," he tried to laugh it off but the sound was awful even to his own ear. His shoulders dropped and he bit his lip. "I- I just miss my dad,” he admitted quietly, as much to Mr. Stark, as to himself. This was it, wasn’t it? He missed his dad, and he was loosing his mind over the thought he might never get him back.

“This is why I hate kids,” Mr. Stark huffed. “If you miss him enough to almost allow yourself to be blasted into pieces, then for god’s sake get out of here and go see him. Oh don’t give me that look, get out. Before you get anyone hurt.”

Peter wasn’t sure what look exactly he was giving him, but he was more than happy to get out of there. He didn’t even remember how he made it to his bedroom. He collapsed on his bed and hugged his pillow.

It was temporary, he told himself.

It was only temporary.

“Peter, it seems you are in great distress,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. noticed. He screwed his eyes shut, trying to block her out. He wanted to be alone. “I’ve initiated Baby Stark protocol. Here is-”

“What protocol?” he barked out an ugly laugh.

“Mr. Stark designed the Baby Stark protocol to offer you comfort, should you ever need it when he was unavailable to offer it himself. Now, here is-”

“I don’t want to see it, Fri,” he said firmly, hot tears prickling his eyes.

“But I believe it might-”

“I said no, I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to hear it. Turn it off.”

“But-”

“Shut up, Fri!” he screamed at the ceiling. “Shut up. Shut up, just stop. If he even cared about me at all, he would know who I was!”

He threw the pillow away in anger, holding back the sobs that threatened to escape him. He wanted to call May, ask her to come here, but then what? Make her ditch work so he could curl into her side and cry like a kid? He couldn’t call Pepper either, he didn’t want to let her down. He needed a distraction, he needed out.

He put on his Spider-Man suit in record time, opened one of the windows, and jumped into the hot summer air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like a monster :x
> 
> Thank you for reading part two!


	3. Chapter 3

Peter wasn’t expecting to calm down this easily once he started swinging above the streets of New York. He did, though, and he spent most of this time wallowing in regret and self pity. He just had to believe Mr. Stark would remember him eventually. Had to believe they would rebuild their relationship from scratch, if he didn’t. He refused to lose another member of his family. He simply won’t allow it.

He felt a bit better after stopping a few petty crimes on his impromptu patrol, and finally decided to start swinging home.

Err- to the Tower. To start swinging to the Tower.

The sight that greeted him there was bit unusual, though. He could see large groups of people gathered in front of the entrance, but there was no smoke or anything otherwise dangerous in sight. Seriously, he was gone two hours tops. What on Earth could have happened in that time?

He entered the Tower the same way he left, shedding his suit quickly and storing it away. He went to check Mr. Stark’s lab, but it was empty. Was he even still in the building? Was he evacuated?

“Fri, what’s going on? Where’s Mr. Stark?” he asked frantically. “Is he okay?”

He felt his blood run cold when there was no answer. Was the Tower under attack? Had the power been cut?

He ran one floor down to his own lab, just in case, but it was empty as well. Where else should he look? Maybe Karen would be able to help locate him, he thought suddenly, and tore back to the staircase.

“Oof!” the air left him when he collided with someone, grabbing the person out of instinct so they wouldn’t fall down.

“There you are,” a familiar voice, Tony’s voice, hissed at him. “Are you _trying_ to give me a heart attack? Come on! We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

Peter blinked at him with confusion, before finally remembering how his legs worked. He let himself be pushed towards the elevator.

“Happy, I found the kid. We’ll meet you outside,” Mr. Stark said, after touching an earpiece he had on his right ear. Peter didn’t notice it before. “F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s down. The Tower’s running on emergency back-up systems,” the man explained. “Which is fucking unfortunate, because I can’t for the life of me remember when was the last time they were updated.”

Peter looked at the ceiling, frowning.

“They are top-notch, I promise. And if they ever failed, we can fall back on the emergency emergency systems,” he said in a small voice, pretending not to notice the other’s surprise at the reassurance. “The Tower is safe, you can call the evacuation off. But what do you mean F.R.I.D.A.Y. is down? _Can_ she be down?”

Mr. Stark looked as clueless as Peter felt. “Apparently, yes.”

The elevator arrived at their floor, but they didn’t enter, Mr. Stark considering his words for a moment before giving Happy new instructions over the comm.

“It could’ve been a malicious attack,” he said eventually and gave Peter a contemplative glance. “Perhaps you could help me figure this out.”

Peter stared.

“Oh, don’t make me regret it,” Mr. Stark rolled his eyes. “Are you aware of any recent updates, upgrades, anything? Have I reprogrammed her recently in any way?”

“No, it can’t be that,” Peter decided at once. “If this was your mistake, the effect on Fri would be immediate, it wouldn’t come up unexpectedly a few months later. Besides, seriously?” he snorted. “ _Your_ mistake _?_ ”

Mr. Stark raised an eyebrow.

“Right, um, when exactly did you notice she stopped responding? It could’ve been an attack scheduled in advance, but that doesn’t sound very probable, to be honest. She’s literally impossible to hack, Mr. Stark.”

“I don’t know, a couple of hours ago?” Tony rubbed his eyes, taking a deep breath. “Assume she is. Apparently, she is.”

“No,” Peter was adamant. “She is not, you invented that language. Rule this out.”

He could tell his words were only agitating Mr. Stark further, but for once, he didn’t care. He wasn’t going to budge on this one, or else they’d be wasting time looking for bugs that weren’t there, while who knows what the real culprit would be off doing.

“I am not ruling this out, kid, _I don’t know_ what I’ve put in that code-”

“Don’t start doubting yourself now,” Peter told him, surprised he even had to say this. “You’re just missing a few memories, you’re still you.”

Mr. Stark’s expression darkened faster than Peter could think _yikes!_

“Easy for you to say. You have no idea what it feels like to forget an apparently huge part of your life and have it stare right back at you every day, and have no fucking clue what to do with it!”

Peter swallowed hard.

“...are we still talking about Fri?”

Mr. Stark looked taken aback for a split second before nodding quickly. “Of course we’re talking about Fri.”

“Ooh I get it!”

“What, what are you getting, now? There’s nothing to get. Like I said, I meant-”

“No, Mr. Stark, listen,” Peter looked at him with wide eyes, previous conversation forgotten. “She _cannot_ be hacked, so it must mean someone shut her off! Someone with high enough clearance to command her.”

Mr. Stark frowned, considering the thought.

“Kid, do you realize what you’re implying? I tried, and failed, to override it. It means this person would have the same level of access to the Tower,” Tony said slowly. “And the only other person with that clearance is Pepper, and I refuse to believe she’d betray me.”

Peter suddenly felt dizzy, all color leaving his face.

“Oh shit.”

He endured the surprised look he received and bit his lip, praying to anything that listened to just erase him from existence this very second, before he’d be forced to say this out loud. Unfortunately, not many of the celestial beings ever listened to him (literally none) and he was left to deal with his mentor’s progressively more worried eyes.

“She’s not the only one… I suppose.” He took a deep breath. “Um, F.R.I.D.A.Y.? I know you can hear me, I’m sorry I- uh, shouted at you. I take that back, okay?

Mr. Stark’s mouth dropped slightly open and his expression turned incredulous. Peter pretended not to notice.

“So, um, you can talk now. Please?”

“Of course, Peter,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. responded, and Peter felt a bit relieved she didn’t seem upset with him. He wasn’t sure if she could, though. He reminded himself her silence wasn’t a case of her being offended, but rather him literally giving her a command to shut up. He added another sheepish “ _sorry_ ” just in case.

He was afraid to look at Mr. Stark now. He didn’t feel like explaining how he’d come to earn such a high clearance level, especially since he wasn’t exactly sure himself. A part of him was hopeful, though, that this revelation could trigger something in his mentor’s memory.

If finding out Tony’s present self trusted Pepper and Peter equally didn’t do the trick, would anything?

Peter chanced a side glance at the man, only to find him completely dumbfounded. He could almost hear the cogs turning in Mr. Stark’s head, but the awaited spark of recognition didn’t make an appearance. Whatever was going on in the genius’s head, it was not what Peter had hoped for. Suddenly the man’s eyebrows furrowed even more, and Peter realized his disappointment must’ve shown on his face.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Stark,” he said quickly hoping to avoid the other topic, because the weight of the crushing defeat he felt was threatening to swallow him whole. “I wasn’t expecting that to happen, I swear. And it’s not like I make any protocols of my own often, but you did override one some time ago, so I don’t know, I guess I forgot you can’t do it now?” he was vaguely aware he was rambling. “I mean, it’s only until Dr. Cho says you're back to full health. ‘Cause you’re kinda on a sick leave right now, you know? Um, yeah, so, I’m very sorry, and I’ll deal with the repercussions of the evacuation tomorrow, so don’t worry about it. Just, don’t worry about anything. I’ll fix it. Right, okay, um, I’ll just- I’ll go.”

He jumped into the elevator and breathed a sigh of relief when Mr. Stark wasn’t fast enough to follow him, too preoccupied trying to keep up with the flood of words to realize Peter was making a run for it. F.R.I.D.A.Y. took him to the penthouse and he vanished inside his quarters, not even daring to venture to the kitchen.

Would it be too dramatic if he compared this day to the day of his field trip to MoMA in terms of awfulness?

“Fri, call Happy for me, please,” he said.

“Pete?” Happy’s voice rang through his bedroom.

Peter sighed. “Just wanted to let you know it was all a misunderstanding.”

“Tony said to call off the evacuation. I did, but I have to say I’m not too thrilled about it.”

“No, no, it’s honestly fine. You can run your checks if it’ll put you at ease, but don’t worry too much, it’s all under control.”

Happy hummed in thought. “Alright, got it. I take it you’re okay, then? Everyone freaked out when you were nowhere to be found. I thought Tony would get a stroke.”

Peter smiled sadly. “Sorry, didn’t mean to worry you. I went out as Spider-Man, I had no idea what was happening back here.”

“So you are okay, yes?”

Was he really gonna make him say it?

“I’m- not hurt.”

After a moment of silence on the line, he heard a resigned sigh.

“Alright, good. Take care, Pete.”

The call disconnected. Peter sat on the edge of his bed and fought with himself for a moment before asking F.R.I.D.A.Y. to make another call. He only waited a second before Pepper picked up.

“What happened? Are you alright? Is Tony alright?”

“Yes, yes, nothing to worry about!” he quickly reassured her. He assumed she’d gotten the news about the situation at the SI Headquarters as the company’s CEO, and didn’t want her to stress over it unnecessarily. “Just wanted to let you know it was a misunderstanding. I accidentally shut F.R.I.D.A.Y. down. I’m so, so sorry.”

“How do you accidentally shut down an AI that runs an entire building?” she sounded incredulous, but not accusatory. “We’re getting press inquiries about the incident, I’ll tell the PR team to release a statement it was a scheduled drill.”

“Sounds good,” he said weakly.

“And apart from that?” Pepper asked. He could her some light tapping in the background, she was probably composing the note already. “How are you guys holding up? Tony never tells me anything.”

Peter also didn’t feel like it, but forced himself to put some excitement into his voice. “We worked on Starlord’s bullets today, it was fun! Dr. Cho says he’s getting better, so don’t worry. Sorry, Mrs. Stark, I gotta go now.”

“Oh, alright,” Pepper said, a little surprised. “Thanks for the call. Let me know if you need anything, Pete, good luck.”

“Thanks, bye!”

As soon as the call disconnected, Peter let himself fall back into the bed, toeing off his sneakers and curling up in a sad ball, feeling lonely and tired, and like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. He wasn’t crying, but his eyes were screwed shut, and his throat was tight, and tomorrow he would have to do this all again.

“Fri, pull up the Baby Stark protocol, please.”

* * *

“Just tell him he can’t.”

There was a whine.

“But he wants to.”

“He can’t,” Peter repeated.

“But-”

“No.” Was the exasperation in his voice even audible to other people? “I’m not allowing a new guy anywhere near those prototypes.”

“But-”

“They _explode_. No.”

There was some grumbling on the other side and then a sigh. “Fine.”

“Good, thank you very much for your cooperation,” Peter rolled his eyes, trying to keep his amusement at bay. “Anything else?”

“No, but just know you’ve ruined our fun.”

“Oh my god. I’m hanging up.”

He ended the call, a small, fond smile on his lips. Lab directors at SI were nuts. Well, that’s what you get when you work for Tony Stark for an extended period of time, he supposed.

“Fri, can you pull my notes up?” he asked for the third time that day, and a bright blue list appeared above his workstation. He scanned it quickly to decide on his next task, trying to clear his schedule a bit before the weekly reports started arriving. He’d been pleasantly surprised when he first figured out how the upper management and audits were handled at SI. The system worked like a charm, and Peter quietly thought it was a product of Tony’s and Pepper’s brilliance combined.

“Peter, you have an incoming call from Boss,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. interrupted his musings.

Peter froze. He’d been slightly surprised when he hadn’t seen the man at all during the first half of the day, but F.R.I.D.A.Y. confirmed he was well (even though he tried to ditch the morning check up), so Peter understood this as a mutual agreement that they were now avoiding each other.

“Shit, no, block it-”

“Connecting.”

Fri, you traitor.

“Peter, I need to talk with you.” Was there anything Mr. Stark could say that would actually be a worse opening sentence?

Was this about his fuck up the previous day? A few ongoing experiments had to be canceled and carried out again from scratch due to the evacuation, Peter worked his ass off along with the Admin division to recalculate all the cost and try to optimize it somehow. It wasn’t that bad, though. Was he really in trouble?

“Um, yeah? What is it?”

“No, not over the phone,” Mr. Stark said impatiently and Peter’s heart dropped. “Come see me in my study. I assume you know the way.”

The call ended abruptly.

Peter didn’t know the way, but he guessed the study would be located in Mr. Stark’s private quarters, so with one last deep breath he started walking towards the penthouse. He was nervous, his mind jumping to a ton of conclusions all at once, but also stupidly hopeful. Perhaps he wasn’t about to get a scolding. Maybe Tony would surprise him with a hug and a laugh, and-

No, no, he shouldn’t get ahead of himself. That wasn’t very likely.

The door to Mr. Stark and Pepper’s rooms slid open for him without prompting and he walked inside slowly. He’d been there before, but only a few times, as they mostly spent their time in either the labs or in the common area. Was there a study here?

Some of the doors were open, and thankfully it didn’t take him long to find his mentor, hunched over some papers at a half-round desk. He looked up when Peter walked in and gestured for him to take a seat opposite, his expression serious.

Peter gulped.

“You haven’t been completely honest with me.”

Wha-? “What do you mean?”

“You know what it’s like to open your eyes one day and have no idea who these people were, the ones taking care of you?” Mr. Stark pressed on, and Peter was sure he had a point, but he had no idea what it could be. It didn’t sound as if the man had remembered him, though. “Then day after day you find yourself in their company, and you can’t really place those feelings you feel, nor those thoughts you think, because they don’t fit the story you’ve been told.”

Peter could only shrug helplessly.

“Do you know how many times a day I caught myself turning to ask someone- you, a question, like it was a habit? I thought I was going crazy,” Mr. Stark exclaimed. “It made no sense. You being able to go as you please _on my personal floors_? You overriding all of the security protocols and shutting F.R.I.D.A.Y. down? There are fourteen, you know. Fourteen security protocols created specifically to prevent a situation like that from happening.

Peter coughed awkwardly. “Yes, about that. Sorry, again.”

Mr. Stark dismissed his concerns with a wave of his hand.

“And what have you been working on, recently?” he asked instead, seemingly innocent. It was a trap, though, Peter could sense it. “Because when I wanted to assess the backlog of my work, the work that I obviously haven’t been doing since my injury, F.R.I.D.A.Y. informed me there was none! Can you imagine? All this time I was either drugged up by that evil woman, or playing around with the tech I found in my lab, and somehow I’m not behind with work _at all_.”

Peter bit his lip to the point of blood. “Am I in trouble?”

Seeing him this nervous, Mr. Stark deflated a bit, shaking his head with incredulity.

“For successfully running my company for almost two weeks with no help? No.” He narrowed his eyes then. “For not telling me about it? Oh yes.”

Peter chanced a nervous smile.

“Don’t think you’re off the hook, kid. You have no idea how much energy I wasted on trying to figure this out.” Mr. Stark pushed the papers his way, the ones he was previously reading. “Then I found this by accident, this morning, and it finally makes some sense. A personal intern, my ass. You’re no intern, bud.”

Peter frowned at him, before taking the offered papers.

“So I might have treated you a little coldly. I was mostly angry at myself for trusting you so easily, when so many alarms were constantly going off in my head, because honestly, most of my regular employees couldn’t do half of the things I saw you do. And I was supposed to accept you were an intern?” His mentor laughed, as if that was truly a ridiculous thought. “I suppose I get that the lie was for my sake, but I wanted to have it out of the way.”

Peter was starting to worry his mentor might be completely losing it. He gave him a tight smile, and looked at the papers to skim over them for answers.

“Now that we’re done with this farce, I might actually rely on you to bring me up to date with the work. I clearly must’ve valued your intellect before my accident, since I’ve made you my heir and shareholder.”

Peter was barely even listening anymore, staring at the papers in his hands. There were three. One was an authenticated deed, complete with notarial stamps and all, of Tony Stark gifting him 15% of his own shares, effective 10th of August, Peter’s 18th birthday, which was only two weeks away. The second one was his official will that stated all of his remaining shares would go to Peter in case of his death. The last document one was a copy of a similar will, this one being Pepper’s.

“What is this?” he mumbled, not even caring that Mr. Stark was still talking. “What- wha-”

“Hm? Have I exaggerated the part about your intellect?”

Peter just stared at him.

Then back at the papers.

Then back at him.

It was too much. Tony, _his Tony_ , had been planning to make him a shareholder? He was trusted enough to be named heir to SI? And yet, Peter might never talk to that person again. His Tony would possibly never learn how much that meant to him.

This Tony would appreciate his help, cause he’s smart.

“I can’t- I have to-”

Peter slammed the papers on the desk, pushing the chair back with a god-awful screech and jumping on his feet as if he’d been burnt. He had to get away from here, unless he wanted to break down completely in front of this confused man. Peter darted through the door, offering no apology and no explanation, his enhanced hearing picking up on a sigh:

“I guess this means I haven’t figured it out.”

*

Peter needed a moment to calm down after this revelation. This time he did call May, and he was a sobbing mess as she talked him through all of those things he hadn’t allowed himself to feel for the last week and a half. It felt like losing another member of his family, and he was not ready to have this dumped on him again. Yet, as soon as his breathing returned to normal and the tears stopped coming, he couldn’t help but feel bad for Mr. Stark. He had been taking his mentor’s feelings and mental well-being into consideration, which was mostly why he did the things he did at the Tower for the past few days, but he didn’t expect any of those focused on him. Perhaps they got the rules wrong.

He should probably go talk to him.

Especially after the way he bolted from the room. That wasn’t very nice.

“A visitor incoming. Access granted,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. announced.

Peter frowned.

“May, I gotta go. Thanks so much for this,” he said to his aunt. “I larb you.”

“Larb you too,” she responded with a smile in her voice. It made him smile a little as well.

He left his quarters and wandered into the common area of the penthouse, trying to find out what was going on. Mr. Stark was there, facing the terrace as if waiting for something to happen. Peter was just about to speak, when a beam of light seemed to hit right in front of them. Peter tried to shield his eyes with his arms, but the light vanished as soon as it appeared, leaving a lone figure in its place.

Why was Thor here?

Peter watched as they greeted each other, silently thankful that Thor has been a known presence in Mr. Stark’s life for longer than the 3-ish years the man was currently missing. At least Peter wouldn’t have to explain why aliens were falling down from the sky onto his terrace.

“To what do I owe the nuisance?” Mr. Stark asked.

Thor grinned, ready to reply, when he noticed Peter in the room. “Oi, Man of Spiders! Hello!”

Peter chuckled and waved, not failing to notice how Mr. Stark tensed upon learning he was in the room.

“What did you just call him?” Tony asked with confusion. Thor looked at him and frowned.

“Thor, didn’t you get the updates?” Peter came closer to the both of them.

Thor beamed at him.

“Ah, yes. I have received word of Iron Man’s demise.”

“No, no, I haven’t written it like that,” Peter quickly assured Mr. Stark, who was giving him a look. “So what are you doing here?”

“I assumed the note to stay away was addressed to all of those other idiots,” Thor shrugged like it was nothing. “I, of course, know how to act around a sick person.” He then turned to Mr. Stark. “How long have you got?”

“What?”

“Until death, I mean?”

“Oh my god,” Peter groaned. “Nobody’s dying.”

Thor looked victorious. “See? After all, I am a god. Don’t thank me.” Despite the tension and awkward energy between them, Tony and Peter exchanged exasperated looks. “You should have called for me a long time ago, Man of Spiders.”

“Why do you keep calling him that?” Mr. Stark asked, leading them further into the room and propping himself up on a sofa’s armrest.

Peter chuckled nervously.

“Do you really not remember? Ask your invisible lady.” Thor seemed genuinely surprised. “How come you remember me, and not him?”

“Another thing you were not telling me?” Peter felt himself freeze at the blank look Mr. Stark was giving him, because it was way worse than any anger could ever be. A blank look meant his mentor was actively keeping his emotions from him, apparently not willing to show any more weakness after the fiasco that was their last talk. “Fri, show me what you have on this Man of Spiders.”

“I recommend his early videos from YouTube, boss,” F.R.I.D.A.Y., the traitor, suggested. “They seem to have gained a lot of popularity.”

“Sure, let’s see it.”

Peter groaned and hid his face in his hands when a holographic display appeared in the center of the room, showing the three of them how he faceplanted into a building, wearing his first pajam- suit. As Thor laughed loudly at the compilation of Spider-Man’s Top 10 Epic Fails, Mr. Stark’s carefully crafted blank look turned into one of utter confusion.

“Now that I have saved your life, Stark, I’ll be on my way,” Thor interrupted his internal crisis when the video was over. “I actually came to have a word with Banner.”

“He’s upstate,” Peter informed him before he could go ransacking the labs in search of the scientist.

Thor grimaced. “Oh. Most unfortunate. I must bid you farewell, then,” he said, getting up to walking out to the terrace again. “You keep him out of trouble, young one!”

Peter chuckled, but nodded. Thor vanished with a loud boom and another flash of light. All too aware they were alone again, Peter was a little nervous to look at Mr. Stark, but he knew they should talk and it would be best to get it out as soon as possible. So he braced himself, took a deep breath and turned to face the man, only to find him already boring a hole in his head with his razor sharp eyes.

Peter rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, fishing for words that would be at least somewhat fitting the situation, but none were coming. Then suddenly the man just stood up from the armrest and walked out without even a single wave of a hand. After the initial shock, Peter followed after him, suddenly indignant, but when he got to the door to his mentor’s lab, it was locked again. He decided against overriding it this time, and walked back to his own lab, feeling hollow.

*

It’s been a few hours before he convinced himself he should eat something. He didn’t feel like eating at all, but his stomach was getting louder and louder, and it actually started to distract him from the work he’d thrown himself into.

He leaned back in his chair for a second to stretch and then stood up, making his way to the door. He wasn’t expecting to run into someone as soon as it opened, though, and he stumbled back at the impact. “Mr. Stark! You alright?”

Mr. Stark took a step to regain his balance, but then pushed his way into the lab as if he owned the place. Which- yeah, fair. Peter narrowed his eyes at a bumble of red and blue fabric he placed on a desk.

“Well? Come look at this.”

Peter rolled his eyes at the impatient tone, but did as asked. “What is it?”

“A suit,” Mr. Stark said as if it explained everything. It didn’t. “I can’t have you swinging around the city in the pajamas Fri showed me. You need some protection. You’re tiny, kid.”

Peter could’ve sworn he heard his jaw hit the floor. He touched the fabric gently before lifting it off the desk to inspect. “You- what? You made me a suit? You made me a- what? _”_ Peter could feel the exact moment his brain broke.

Mr. Stark stood a little straighter, glaring at him for apparently making a bigger deal out of this than he would’ve liked. “You can’t be a- crime-fighting spider? If you’re unarmed and unprotected.”

“Unarmed and unprotected?” Peter felt a grin making its way onto his face. Mr. Stark could see it as well, judging by the way he scowled. “Mr. Stark, were you _worried_ about me?”

“Absolutely not, Underoos,” he scoffed, and then glared harder when Peter’s grin seemed to only grow bigger at his choice of a nickname. “I can tell Pep’s fond of you so it would be a waste if some low baddie got a hit on you, is all.”

“Right,” The smile on Peter's face was so wide it hurt, but he didn't mind at all .

He felt a spike of happiness course through him as he finally connected the dots. The way Mr. Stark supposedly found Peter annoying but then came in to work with him anyway, how he got angry when Peter could’ve hurt himself with the plasma bullets, and worried when he couldn’t find Peter during the evacuation. How relieved he actually seemed when he found his will and thought he finally figured out the reason behind having any kind of feelings towards a seemingly random kid.

Tony Stark might not remember him, but he grew to care for him all over again.

It made Peter’s heart melt and gave him hope they really could rebuild their relationship. They would rebuild it, and they would be fine. They would be family again. It would take time – Tony Stark’s aversion to feelings and anything remotely emotional was legendary, but they would find a way. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if his memories never came back, they would just have to create new ones.

Feeling brave, Peter took a few steps towards his surprised mentor, and hugged him. He could feel Mr. Stark still completely.

“Thanks for the suit, dad,” Peter mumbled into his chest, and froze. There was a sharp intake of breath above him and it somehow made him giggle. Oh, whatever. “Figured it out, yet?” he chuckled.

He hugged the man even tighter and was surprised by the strong arms that came around him in response.

“No. Remembered it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! My heart was breaking for Pete the whole time I was writing this, I’m so weak. I hope you enjoyed this angsty ride!
> 
> Btw I would love for something like this to happen in Endgame, instead of what actually happened.
> 
> Unfortunately no one asked me to write a script yet, so :( Feel free to give your producer friends my contact info thanks love you bye!
> 
> ***  
> Spoiler:  
> The amnesia is, in fact, only temporary :) Since he has no way of knowing this, Peter struggles with the loss of his father-figure.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading part one, I hope you liked it!


End file.
